Youngstown, Ohio — Coming off a weather-induced hiatus and sitting at No. 7 in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 POll, Youngstown State's bowling team resumes its spring semester schedule this Friday as it begins competition at the three-day Flyer Classic. The event is being hosted by Lewis University at Strike & Spare II in Lockport, Ill.

YSU's 13 matches at the tournament will be streamed live on the YSUsports YouTube channel as WiFi signals permit, and results will be posted throughout the weekend on the team's Instagram and Facebook stories and its X feed.

• Live Stream: YSUsports on YouTube
• YSU Bowling on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | X
• Result Updates: Google Sheet
• Mobile App: iOS Download | Android Download

Tournament Preview

The Flyer Classic is Youngstown State's second competition since November, and it will be a 26-team event. After an extended break over the holidays, YSU opened its spring semester by placing eighth among 36 teams at the Northeast Classic on Jan. 16-18. YSU was scheduled to compete at the Prairie View Invitational in Arlington, Texas, the following week, but the event was canceled due to Winter Storm Fern.

With several tournaments being canceled over the last three weeks due to the weather, many teams will be hungry to be back on the lanes this week in Illinois. The seventh-ranked Penguins are one of 13 ranked teams in the field, based on December's National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 poll, and they will be one of nine Conference USA squads.

A Look at the Field

Top-25 Ranked Teams (13 - based on December NTCA Poll): #1 Jacksonville State, #2 Vanderbilt, #3 Arkansas State, #7 Youngstown State, #10 Maryville, #11 Sacred Heart, #12 Wright State, #13 North Carolina A&T, #14 Sam Houston, #16 Newman, #17 Tulane, #18 Valparaiso, #19 McKendree

Teams Receiving Votes (3): Carroll, Oklahoma Christian, Wisconsin-Whitewater

Additional Teams (10): Aurora, Belmont Abbey, Elmhurst, Emmanuel, Indianapolis, Lewis, Marian, Quincy, Saint Anselm, Western Illinois

Conference USA Teams (9): Arkansas State, Jacksonville State, Sacred Heart, Sam Houston, Tulane, Valparaiso, Vanderbilt, Wright State, Youngstown State

Format and Schedule

The three-day event will follow the NCAA's standard 13-match format. The 26 teams in the field will bowl in five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 11:35 a.m. Eastern, and total pinfall will determine the winners of each head-to-head match. Five traditional matches will follow on Saturday starting at 10:25 a.m. Eastern with total pinfall again determining the winners. Youngstown State is one of 13 teams in the "B" group, and it will compete against 10 of the teams in the "A" group during the two days of qualifying. The total pins from the first 10 matches of the tournament will determine seeding for bracket play on Sunday, which will consist of three matches beginning at 9:10 a.m. Eastern. The bracket matches will be contested in a best-of-seven Baker format.

Friday at 11:35 a.m. ET — Five Baker matches

Match 1 vs. Marian — Lanes 19-20
Match 2 vs. No. 19 McKendree — Lanes 27-28
Match 3 vs. Carroll — Lanes 35-36
Match 4 vs. No. 14 Sam Houston — Lanes 21-22
Match 5 vs. No. 12 Wright State — Lanes 23-24

Saturday at 10:25 a.m. ET — Five traditional matches

Match 6 vs. Aurora — Lanes 13-14
Match 7 vs. Emmanuel — Lanes 21-22
Match 8 vs. Lewis — Lanes 23-24
Match 9 vs. No. 10 Maryville — Lanes 27-28
Match 10 vs. No. 17 Tulane — Lanes 15-16

Sunday at 9:10 a.m. ET — Three best-of-seven Baker matches

Bracket will be determined after qualifying concludes on Saturday

YSU's History at the Flyer Classic

Youngstown State is competing at the Flyer Classic at Strike & Spare II for the second time after making its debut at the tournament last season. In 2024-25, the Penguins qualified fourth in the 22-team field and finished fifth overall while posting a 9-4 record. YSU earned four wins over teams ranked in the top 10, including two victories over second-ranked Vanderbilt. Madison Doseck was Youngstown State's top individual finisher in traditional play with a sixth-place set of 1,096.

2024-25 (Strike & Spare II)

• Team finish » 5th of 22
• Head-to-head record » 9-4
• Top individual finisher » Madison Doseck (6th)

Recapping the Northeast Classic

Youngstown State finished eighth at the Northeast Classic, a 36-team event that opened the Penguins' spring slate on Jan. 16-18. YSU was 8-2 through 10 matches of qualifying, and it went 1-2 in bracket play on the final day. YSU had wins over No. 8 Niagara and No. 9 Mount St. Mary's in qualifying, and its win in the best-of-seven bracket came against No. 14 Sam Houston. Leyna Kratzer was YSU's top finisher in individual play with a 21st-place total of 1,050. Kara Beissel (265), Amber Mason (254) and Liv Baskin (224) each bowled the highest games of their collegiate careers at the event.

A Glimpse at the Guins

• Youngstown State is in a new era this season — one as a program that has won a national championship and one that has seven newcomers and just one returner from last season's title-winning squad on its 2025-26 roster.
• The Penguins were ranked seventh in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll that released in December.
• YSU is coming off a storybook season in 2024-25 in which six seniors led the Penguins to the 2025 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship. It was the first national championship ever in a women's sport at Youngstown State and its first in any sport since 1997. YSU has been to the NCAA Tournament in five straight seasons and reached the Final Four three times.
• While the Penguins celebrated their momentous accomplishment, they're ready to turn the page with six freshmen, a junior transfer and returning sophomore Kara Beissel looking to carry on the tradition. Beissel waited her turn behind the veteran lineup last season, but she stepped up in a big way when she was called upon and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Final Four.
• Beissel's scoring average is a team-best 20.33 pins per frame, and she's been the team's top scorer in Baker play with a 20.75 average per frame.
• Amy Chrzanowski, a junior transfer from FDU, is the most-experienced collegiate bowler on the roster. She primarily bowled fourth in the Knights' lineup last season, earning Second Team All-NEC honors and helping FDU to the NCAA Tournament. She placed 15th at two tournaments in the fall, the Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic and the Colonial Lanes Classic.
• Freshman Leyna Kratzer has been the team's top individual finisher in all three tournaments in which she's competed. She finished seventh at the Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic to open the season, 13th at Destination Orlando and 21st at the Northeast Classic. Kratzer was injured and did not compete at the Colonial Lanes Classic. Kratzer owns the Penguins' top average in traditional play at 212.0.
• This is Youngstown State's 10th season as an intercollegiate program, and Doug Kuberski is entering his seventh full season as head coach. He took over midway through the 2018-19 season, and he has gone on to lead the Penguins to five NCAA tournaments and three Final Four appearances. Kuberski is a two-time National Coach of the Year (2020 and 2024) and a two-time conference coach of the year (2020 and 2023), and he earned his 500th victory at YSU on Oct. 19 against Vanderbilt. Madyson Marx, a First-Team All-American last season and a five-year member of the program, has joined the staff as a graduate assistant, and Mackenzie Olesky is in her third season as an assistant coach.

Up Next

Youngstown State will begin a stretch of three straight weeks of competition on Feb. 20 at Nebraska's Big Red Invitational. The Penguins will then bowl at North Carolina A&T's Stallings Invitational and Vanderbilt's Music City Classic on Feb. 27-March 1 and March 6-8, respectively.